Gerald Baughman
Bio
Jerry Baughman taught 37+ years in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State. His research in the area of poultry housing and equipment. His early research efforts provided basic information that lead to the development of the totally enclosed mechanically ventilated broiler housing that is prevalent today. Other work, in cooperation with Mike Timmons, established the validity of evaporative cooling for heat stress relief of broilers.
He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from The Ohio State University. He has taught courses in electricity, processing, structures and environment, and agricultural machinery while at NC State. In addition he also taught mathematical skills courses in the Agricultural Institute at NC State.
Over the years he has developed consulting in the area of wood design. Some of the fruits of this effort lead to design examples based on his consulting being carried into the classroom. Many students have expressed their gratitude for the use of “real world” examples in the classroom.
Baughman is a registered professional engineer in Ohio and North Carolina. He has served on several department and college committees, and on the ASABE Poultry Housing Committee. Baughman is a sought after consultant in the design of farm structures and continues this consulting today.
Grants
Animal production has the potential to create substantial air pollution by releasing ammonia, particulate matter (PM), and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Methods to reduce air pollution from animal feeding operations by sprinkling oil, using ionizers to increase settling of dust, or by using filters and scrubbers have not been widely accepted due to cost, management, or technical constraints. We propose a novel, regenerating scrubber with a continuously moving, filter belt operated in both wet and dry modes, for removing ammonia, PM, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S); hence, the scrubber could also be effective in reducing odor. In the wet mode, the filter belt soaked in boric acid solution would remove PM, ammonia, and H2S and then be cleaned in a trough of dilute boric acid solution before recirculating through the air stream to remove more pollutants. In the dry mode, more appropriate for high PM concentrations (e.g., broiler house), the PM trapped on the dry filter belt surface would be continuously cleaned at the ends by nylon brushes. Selection of suitable filter material for both wet and dry operations that maximize pollutant trapping and minimize pressure drops will be made through laboratory trials. The wet scrubber will be evaluated for treating exhaust air from the pit ventilation fan in a swine finishing barn. Both wet and dry scrubbers will be evaluated in a naturally-ventilated broiler house. In addition to evaluating the scrubber?s effectiveness under different conditions, information gained will be useful in scaling up the system for use with larger fans. It may be economically and technically feasible to retrofit existing ventilation systems with the simple and compact scrubber.